Jamaica is known for its sprinters, its cricketers, and – thanks to that old classic – its bobsled team.

One thing the island is definitely not renowned for is its rugby, but perhaps that is all set to change.

The men’s Sevens team have just qualified for their first ever World Cup, and it wasn’t long before the world’s media dubbed them ‘Cool Runnings on Grass’.

Rather than groan at the cliched comparison, team captain Conan Osborne is viewing it as a blessing. CNN reports:

“I quite like the ‘Cool Runnings on Grass’ thing and I’ll tell you why,” says Osborne.

“First of all it’s a great brand.

“It gets people smiling, it gets people laughing, gets people talking about Jamaican rugby.

“One of the quotes from the film is: ‘Can lightning run on ice?’ So can lightning run on grass, who knows?”

We know lightning can run on the track, given Jamaica’s storied success on that front, but there was basically zero infrastructure for the Sevens team to call on.

The team had to think outside of the box:

…there has been a reliance on the Jamaican diaspora. The UK, where kids can pick up a ball as early as they can run, has proved a more fruitful recruiting ground than the island.

Key figures are aware of the need to retain the essential Jamaican-ness of the group, but they know they must also capitalize [sic] on momentum.

Jamaican team manager Hughton Campbell, surveying a training session at Finchley rugby club in London, acknowledges the hard work that has gone into developing the team known as the “Crocs.”

“To get this felt like mission impossible, really,” he says.

To find new blood for the team, Campbell scoured the TV and the internet, as well as relying on a network of tipsters and mates of mates for recommendations.

There are also massive financial constraints, and one national team player remembers seeing Usain Bolt himself handing out some rugby kit to youngsters back in the day.

Despite the obvious hardships, Campbell says it is the determination of his players that keeps the group moving forward:

“We have no budget, guys dig deep into their own pockets to help out, we do whatever we can. If I could show you what this looked like last year, it would be very different. So you say the Olympics in two years is an outside bet, I say lets give it a crack.”

That determination is finally paying dividends, with the World Cup qualification coming via a last-minute win over Guyana at the Rugby Americas North sevens tournament in Mexico

Having defeated the hosts in the semi-final, the home crowd backed the Jamaicans, greeting their final appearance by singing Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ as they entered the field.

Captain Osborne is now seeing the tides turn, and his nomination for the recent Athlete of the Year award on the island is proof of that:

After subsequently doing the rounds on the breakfast shows and sports channel chats, Osborne found people shouting “rugby man” at him on the street…

The team will come together again for the World Cup, which roars into life on July 20…

“Come July, we should be battle-hardened,” he says.

“And hopefully the other teams won’t pay too much attention. Your USAs and Englands will be thinking about each other, rather than what Jamaica are bringing.

“Hopefully that’s when we come in as those sleeping giants, those underdogs, and maybe we can cause a couple of upsets. Upsets will again boost our profile.”

Theirs is quite a story, and I don’t think many rugby fans would begrudge them success at the World Cup.